Her Secret World
by Hecate28
Summary: Co-Written with A For Antechinus. When the officers of Sunhill respond to a call, little do they know how much one person can hide away from the outside world.
1. Chapter 1

"Can anyone respond to a concerned neighbor's report about their next door neighbor?" Crackled the voice from Cad over the radio.

"Sierra Oscar 54 to sierra Oscar, show me dealing." Sgt Smith, replied. He was only a few minutes from there. Only minutes later Smithy was pulling up at the address given.

Mrs Jones, I am Sgt Dale Smith from Sun Hill. You have a concern about your neighbor.

"Yes, I am so sorry, it's probly nothing, but Anna is always up in the morning when I get up. When I get my paper she is always coming back from a run or walk and half an hour later I see her going off to work. It's just that I haven't seen her at all, and she is 22 and single. She's like a second daughter to me. I am just worried about her."

"Okay, look what I'll do, is go and knock on her door, okay and see what's happening then I will come back and tell you okay." At this Mrs Jones smiled tentatively.

Miss Campbell, Smithy called knocking on the front door.

No answer, she probably got drunk and is sleeping it off. Smithy thought.

Smithy looked through the mailbox. He couldn't see anyone, but the mail hadn't been picked up.

Walking around the house, Smithy looked into the windows, no one there. He was just about to turn around when he spied a little window near the back of the house. As he climbed to the window, he looked through, he saw Miss Campbell on the floor as if she had been knocked. She was not moving.

Within a matter of seconds Smithy had kicked down the door, and gotten through the house to Miss Campbell. Kneeling down, he felt for her pulse, there was one, very faintly but still there was. He quickly called for an ambulance and waited for them, trying to get her conscious. Ten minutes later when the ambulance arrived she was still not conscious but the ambos' took control. He then looked around the house quickly realizing that she had not just fallen, there had been someone else here. There was mess in some of the rooms like there had been a argument, but then other rooms were clean. So with that knowledge he called up CID. Over the phone he quickly told Mickey what he knew, then after giving as much detail as possible (which was not really that much) he left for the hospital.

After half an hour at the hospital, the doctor called him over.

"When will I be able to talk to her, Doctor.?"

"She was in a serious condition, we had to put her in an induced coma, for a little while. She should come out of it very soon, but it will be quite a while before you can talk to her." The doctor answered simply. A minute later Mickey walked up.

"How is it?"

"We won't be able to talk to her for a while, what's happening at the house."

"The crime scene examiners have found some things, that they are trying to push through, but they're going to be there for a while."


	2. Chapter 2

Smithy and Mickey pulled up outside Anna's house after a short drive from the hospital

Smithy and Mickey pulled up outside Anna's house after a short drive from the hospital. The house that they had found the Anna Campbell in was nothing out of the ordinary from the outside. It was just a typical terraced house you would find in any part of London. Even the street the house was in looked calm, quiet and serene, _so why would anyone want to brutally hurt a woman who just seemed like any other citizen of London? _

They ducked under the police tape cordoning off the area and walked up the steps to the house, nodding their greetings at the Crime Scene Examiners and stepped inside the house. Inside, the house bared evidence of an argument and in the sitting room, where Anna had been found was the most convincing evidence. Furniture was knocked over and there were papers strewn across the floor, a glass vase lay cracked in many pieces on the floor and in the centre was a deep red stain where Smithy had found the young woman when he had first arrived.

Smithy sighed loudly and turned to Mickey "Has she got any previous?"

"I checked and she's perfectly clean and she doesn't seem the type to get into any trouble"

"Have you done a background check?"

"Yeah, it gave us a little more insight but not much. The victim was one Anna Campbell aged twenty-two; she works as a nurse at St Hughes Hospital"

"What about family?" Smithy said thinking hard

"Parents are dead; they died in a car crash when she was ten. She was raised in foster care after that but she does have a brother…" Mickey checked the piece of paper he was holding then continued "…His name is Jake and he's twenty-eight"

"Has he got previous?"

"Yeah, he was arrested on suspicion of GBH after a man was attacked and beaten in a bar but no charge was brought"

Mickey stopped and looked up at Smithy who was looking around the room. He pulled on some gloves and started to look through some of the papers and objects scattered across the floor. Among them were a few books and Cd's but nothing to suggest any reason why an average woman like that would be attacked. The house looked pretty tidy on a normal day and as Mickey looked around he could see holiday photos stuck in a montage on the wall. Suddenly out of the corner of his eye he spotted something wedged behind the cushion of a chair. He leant forward and picked up the object. In his hand he held a small but battered mobile phone. He switched it on and flicked through the text messages. They were all pretty normal ones except one particular one. He turned and read it out to Smithy.

"This is your last warning, no more second chances" he finished

"Well that defiantly sounds like a threat" Smithy sighed "What about the last number dialled?"

Mickey pressed a few more buttons and then heaved a sigh "Emergency services"

"So she was trying to phone for help" Smithy concluded

"Do you think she knew her attacker?"

"Probably, since there were no signs of forced entry"

"So we can rule out random attack" Mickey said writing it down and looking grim

He looked around the house once more before saying to Smithy "I'll phone this into the Guv. And you go and question the neighbours and see if they can tell us any more about Anna"

…………………………………………………………………………………………

Twenty minutes later and Mickey was back at the hospital, he'd phoned the information back to the station and now two officers were standing guard outside Anna's room in case anyone tried to finish off the attack. Mickey passed into the room and found the Doctor waiting for him

"Any change?" Mickey asked looking hopeful

"Not just yet" the doctor said "We've checked her over for injuries and it was just as well your Sergeant found her when he did"

"Why's that?"

"This is a very brutal beating. She's got a very serious head wound, numerous broken ribs, a broken collar bone, a fractured arm and a fractured leg and some pretty nasty internal injuries. She lost a lot of blood but we've managed to stabilise her and she should make a full recovery"

Mickey looked down at the young woman, she had wires sticking out of her left right and centre. Her chest was rising and falling as the ventilator pushed air into her lungs and when he looked at her face he sighed. She had cuts and bruises all across her face, she had a split lip and the beginnings of a black eye, the top of her head was covered by a compression bandage and she had a nay gash across her cheek that had been stitched up but still looked pretty sore.

"She worked as a nurse here didn't she?" Mickey asked looking up at the Doctor

"Yes, she did though not on this department. She worked in one of the surgical wards"

"Did you ever work with her?"

"No but from what I've hear she's a lovely girl and a very good nurse" the Doctor said "Do you know who did this to her?"

"Not yet but we're looking into it" Mickey said

"She never had any enemies as far as I knew" the Doctor added

"What makes you say that?"

"Believe me, I've been a doctor for a long time and I know what it looks like if someone really wants to inflict pain on another human and this was a pretty brutal attack from what I can work out"

Mickey nodded and thanked the Doctor before he left the room; he turned to Pc Tony Stamp and Pc Will Fletcher who were guarding her room

"Make sure anyone who comes in this room is licensed to be there" and the two officers nodded

"How serious is it?" Will asked

"She has some pretty bad injuries but they stabilized her" Mickey said looking grim

"Is she conscious yet?" Tony asked gently and Mickey shook his head

"She's still in the induced coma but the Doctor thinks she will come out of it soon but she's got a pretty bad head injuries not to mention the rest so I don't know how much we'll get out of her when she is awake" Mickey finished

The officers nodded and Mickey walked out of the hospital to update Smithy on Anna's condition. He heard Smithy's shock reaction when he reeled of how much damage had been done to Anna

"This is pretty serious then" Smithy's voice came from the phone

"Yeah it looks like someone really wanted to hurt her. The Doctor said it's one of the worst he's seen for a while"

"We need to find who did this and fast" Smithy said "Or else Anna could still be in a lot of danger"


	3. Chapter 3

An hour later Smithy was sitting at his desk, completing some paperwork, when his phone rang

An hour later Smithy was sitting at his desk, completing some paperwork, when his phone rang.

"Sgt Smith speaking"

"Right, so can we speak to her..."

"Thank you, we will be right down."

At this he grabbed his notepad and ran up the stairs to CID.

"Mickey." He called out to the blond man.

"Anna has woken up; the doctor has given us the all clear to talk to her."

A minute later they were driving to St Hugh's with an anxious silence between them. They wanted to find out more about this young lady, and find out why someone would want to hurt her. As she looked like she would do no harm.

"Anna Campbell" Smithy asked gently.

The girl nodded.

"Hi my name is Sgt Smith, but you can call me smithy, and this is DC Mickey Web."

"Were you the one that found me?" Anna asked Smithy.

At this smithy nodded.

"Thank you, thank you so much, from what the doctor said you saved my life."

"That's okay, I was just wondering if you could remember anything from the attack, perhaps who you were with, or what time you got home."

At this Anna just shook her head.

"I'm sorry I can't remember anything, I have been trying, but I just can't."

Smithy just nodded, the doctor has warned them that she would most likely have some temporary amnesia.

"Well if you do remember anything, just give me a call, okay anytime." Smithy said handing her his card.

Suddenly Anna smiled.

"I just remembered then, when you said something about the time, I remember I was out last night at a club, and I remember walking home, and the church clock was ringing it was just going 1am. I usually never stay out that late, it's just that I had just broken up with my boyfriend so wanted a night out. So ….. it would have been about a quarter after 1 when I got home." At this Anna lied back into her bed, the exertion obviously tiring her out.

"This is really good Anna, thank you, so if there is anything more, please call me okay."

Anna just nodded and the two officers made their way out, nodding to P.C Noble and P.C Roberts who were now on the watch.

Later on that afternoon Smithy was watching the CCTV from Anna's street, and had just seen Anna walk up to her house, when a knock came on the door. He looked up and it was no one else but Mickey.

"Hiya, anything?" Asked Mickey.

"I have found this footage of Anna returning home. What about you?"

"I have the results from the phone records; unfortunately it was a pay as you go, so no leads there. Can I watch?" Mickey said motioning to the CCTV on the T.V

"Be my guest."

5 minutes later they were watching the CCTV and saw someone going up to Anna's house and knock on her door. They saw Anna open the door and then let the person in. They were just about to stop watching when Smithy saw something out of the corner of his eye on the screen.

"Hey wait, play it on for another few minutes."

A minute later the person left the house, and someone who Smithy had spied came out of the shadows and went up to Anna's door knocking at it.

Again Anna opened the door and the man pushed into the house.

"Well that does not look like an invite to you does it." Smithy stated.

After going over the ten minutes again, and then finally printing off the copy's they made their way down to the hospital again.


	4. Chapter 4

Mickey and Smithy walked into the hospital both deep in thought

Mickey and Smithy walked into the hospital both deep in thought. They approached the room which was still being guarded by two officers and went in.

Anna was lying back in the bed still looking quite weak but slightly better than she had before

"Hi again Anna" Mickey said as he and Smithy sat down on the chairs next to the bed

"Hi" she said wincing slightly as she adjusted her body "I haven't remembered anything else"

"That's ok, we've been doing some investigating and we've had some leads" Smithy said gently as he showed her the CCTV stills "Do you know who this man is?"

"No…" Anna said quickly and Mickey could have sworn he saw a glimmer of recognition in her face as she studied the photos

"Are you sure because it's really important we find out who did this to you" Mickey said shooting a knowing look at Smithy

"I can't…" Anna said writhing in pain

"Take it easy" Smithy said gently helping her lie back on the bed "You're still quite weak"

"Are you ok to carry on?" Mickey asked as she lay back on the pillow breathing heavily and she nodded "So let's go over what we know already, you said you were out, where did you go?"

"There's a bar on Canley high street…I can't remember what it's called"

"Were you with anyone?"

"No….I don't think so" she said frowning in thought

"So after you left you went straight home"

"Yeah…." Anna said slowly

"Do you remember anything after that?"

"No, I'm sorry it's sort of a blur after that" she said letting out a small sob

"It's ok" Mickey said gently

Just then Smithy's phone vibrated in his pocket and he made his excuses and stepped out of the room

"Guv?" he said reading the caller ID

"Smithy look we've found out some more about Anna. We looked at her bank statement and a large amount of cash was withdrawn two days ago"

"How much?"

"Two thousand" and Smithy gave a low whistle

"Ok thanks Guv we'll ask her about it"

Smithy walked back into the room and saw that Anna had calmed down more since he'd left

"Anna, look we've been through your bank records and we've found out about the withdrawn cash"

"I think you have an idea who did this to you" Mickey said gently

"I told you I don't know" Anna said quickly and firmly but the officers could see a look of doubt in her eyes

"What about your brother?" Smithy said suddenly

"What?" she said looking confused

"Does he know what's happened? I just thought since he's your only family you've got around he should know"

"No" Anna nearly shouted

"Anna do you want to tell us what's going on?"

"I can't" she grimaced

"We can help you" Mickey soothed

"What like last time you mean?. The police promised they'd look after us after our parents died. But all they did was shove us with foster parents who couldn't give less of a dam about us, they screwed us up big time, so if you believe that I'm going to let me help you then you've got another thing coming" she said defiantly

"We know about Jake" Smithy said softly

"You know nothing" Anna said turning her head away from he officers

"We know about the GBH charge…"

"Then you'll know to leave it alone" Anna said turning her head back to the officers and they could see tears rolling down her face "Please…" she begged "Just leave me alone

"Anna we can't do that" Mickey said gently

"All we need is a name" Smithy said

Anna paused for a moment before saying "How do I know I can trust you?"

"You have our word" they said almost in perfect unison

"This is all I'm saying….Jake has friends, dangerous friends" she said pointing to the man in the photo

"Did he do this to you?" Smithy said

"Is he blackmailing you?" Mickey asked

"He knows things. Look there are things that people keep hidden from the world and with good reason. This is one of them" she said softly and the officers looked at Anna and wondered how many secrets her world could hold


	5. Chapter 5

Ten minutes later, both Mickey and Smithy left Anna, none the wiser to what she was hiding

Ten minutes later, both Mickey and Smithy left Anna, none the wiser to what she was hiding. They had tried everything to get her to open up, but nothing had worked. Once at the car Smithy slammed the door shut as he got in. Sometimes it just got to him, this whole job, when all he wanted to do was help someone, yet they wouldn't let anyone help them. What was she hiding, that was the question that kept nagging at him. He knew he wasn't going to rest until he found out.

Later that afternoon, Smithy was just coming back from the canteen with some coffee, when Diane came up to him.

"Sarge"

"Yes P.C Noble"

"You might want to come to custody we have arrested a Mr Jake Campbell he was trying to speak to Anna at the hospital, and refused to leave."

"Right I'll just get Mickey and we will be there in two sec's." Smithy said downing his coffee in one gulp and running up to CID.

5 minutes later, both Mickey and Smithy were sitting opposite Jake in the interview room.

"So why did you go and see Anna?"

"No comment"

"Well there must have been a reason, no one knew she was in the hospital, how did you know Jake?"

"No comment"

"Could it be that you attacked her last night, and was hoping that she had been taken into hospital."

"She's my sister I wouldn't attack her, I love her she's the only family I have"

"Oh so this is different to the 17 yr old girl that you bashed to near death last year then is it."

"I told you, Anna is my sister, and you leave that other girl out of it, she ruined my life."

"Oh I think you ruined it yourself mate." Mickey said, quickly to stop Smithy retorting.

At this Jake's solicitor intervened.

"I would like a word with my client in private please."

Knowing full well that they had to give in, both officers left the room. Once outside Smithy spoke up.

"He's hiding something. I know it."

"I agree, but you know honestly from what he has said, I don't think he did it, I think he knows who bashed Anna up, but I think he is to afraid to tell us."

After a few more minutes, they were allowed in again.

Straight away Mickey took the lead.

"Jake, we talked to Anna, and we think that she knows who did this to her, but she isn't telling us, she isn't telling us why either. We also think that you know who it is. We don't think that you are to blame, we think that you didn't want this to happen, you obviously love your sister and wouldn't want her to get hurt. To stop her getting hurt anymore we need you to tell us who did this to her."

"It's not worth my life"

"What about your sisters then,"

"Don't try to blackmail me."

"Your name does not have to go on the witness statement, the person will never know who it was that dobbed them in." Smithy said.

"Why do I trust what you say. The last coppers didn't do anything for us."

"Please, I just want to get who did this to Anna okay, she is only 22, she has her whole life ahead of her." Smithy said almost pleading.

For some reason Jake looked at Smithy and believed him.

"I ain't telling you why, he did it, okay, and you have to keep my name out of it okay."

"That's okay you don't have to tell us why, and we can keep your name out of it." Mickey reinforced, they could figure that out later, plus he just wanted an answer to who had done it.

"His name is Joshua Malley, he's 30 white, mid build, he lives at flat 28 on the Jasmine Allen." At this Jake hung his head down as if giving up.

"Thank you Jake, now we can protect you and your sister even further. Interview terminated 16.47"

At this both officers went out the door.

"Right I will get some uniform into the briefing room, and Mickey, you find out about this guy, see if he is home. I want to be able to move in on him as soon as possible, he is one dangerous guy."

"Sarge" Mickey replied, heading off to CID, whilst Smithy headed off to his office to round up some more officers.


	6. Chapter 6

Smithy stood in front of his officers who were looking at the information sheet he had passed round of all that they had gathered from the case so far

Smithy stood in front of his officers who were looking at the information sheet he had passed round of all that they had gathered from the case so far

"Ok to recap, Anna Campbell was found unconscious in her home early this morning. She sustained multiple injuries including some nasty fractures and a serious head injury that was so severe that she was put in an induced coma for several hours before we could talk to her"

"Is she ok now Sarge?" one of the officers asked

"She's ok, but it's a pretty severe beating which is why we want to get the person who did this. Now we have reason to believe that the attacker was a Joshua Malley, he's got previous ranging from common assault to some pretty brutal attacks. We're proceeding with caution but we're bringing him in charge of assault. Ok let's get to it" Smithy finished and everyone jumped into action

Smithy and Mickey were leaving the station when they spotted Jake Campbell collecting his things from the custody Sergeant on duty

"Can I see Anna now?" Jake asked turning towards them

"Yeah, I'll get one of our officers to escort you down there" Smithy smiled gently

"Thanks" he mumbled "Is Anna going to be ok?"

"It was a pretty brutal assault but the Doctors think she's going to make a full recovery. But she's going to need time to recover from this both mentally and physically" Mickey said and Jake nodded

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

The officers pulled up outside a bock of flats within the Jasmine Allen estate and awaited orders from Smithy and Mickey

"Ok PC Noble and PC Stamp you go round the back in case he tries to make a run for it, the rest of you wait here in case we need back up, clear?"

"Yes Sarge" the officers chorused

Mickey and Smithy made their way to flat 28 which had a couple of broken windows and empty beer bottles littering the floor around it

"Mr Malley, open up it's the police" Mickey said hammering on the door but their was no answer

After a couple more attempts Smithy stepped forward and kicked the door in and the two of them bolted inside. They checked through the rooms and it seemed like no one was there but as they moved back towards the front of thr house they saw something rush out of one of the doors towards trying to dash past them

Smithy yelled to Mickey and they and were quick enough to stop Joshua from bolting through the open door. Smithy rugby tackled him and after avoiding a punch from the young man he managed to get him on the floor and snap the handcuffs on him

"Get of me" he snarled as Smithy pinned him to the floor

"Joshua Malley, I'm arresting you on the suspicion of the assault on Anna Campbell, you do not have to say anything but it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned something which you later rely on in court, anything you do say will be given in evidence. Do you understand?" Mickey reeled off the lines he'd said a thousand times before

"Get off me" he snarled again trying to head butt Smithy but Smithy was too quick for him and just pinned him down again as he called for the other officers to get him into the area car and back to Sun Hill for questioning

…………………………………………………………………………………………

Leaving Smithy to book Joshua in at the station Mickey made his way to the hospital to update Anna on what had happened. He entered the room and saw Jake sitting on the chair beside the bed talking to Anna gently who was softly crying

"It's going to be ok Anna" he soothed

"No it's not, he's going to come after me again" she sobbed

"Anna, I've come to tell you that we've arrested Joshua Malley on suspicion of assault. My colleague is questioning him now"

"Josh?" Anna said suddenly looking frightened "Jake did you tell them?"

"Anna, I had to, for your safety"

"Oh God he's going to kill me!" Anna said breaking down in tears

"Anna, we're doing everything we can to put him away but we need you help. I know you recognised Joshua from the CCTV pictures and we know that it was him who attacked you but we don't know why. So we need both of you to help us put him away from what he did to you Anna"

"No" she said shaking her head as she sobbed harder

"Please Anna" Jake said "They can help us"

"Oh like they did when mum and dad died" she said with a tone of bitterness and Jake sighed

"Jake, would you mind if I spoke to Anna on her own for a bit" Mickey said gently to Jake who nodded and stepped outside of the room

"Anna" Mickey said sitting down beside her "You need to stay calm for me, you're still very weak" he said noticing Anna's laboured breathing

Anna nodded and reached up with a bruised hand to put her oxygen mask back on her face

"Now I know you're scared but we need your help and I know that you've had bad experiences with the police in the past but you have to move on from that. You're a strong person Anna and you'll be able to get through this but you need to help us make sure that Joshua gets what he deserves"

But Anna just shook her head as silent tears rolled down her face

"Anna, we talked to Jake earlier and he told us that he loved you and you two only had each other left. Now he was very close to loosing you today and I know that seeing you like this is breaking his heart. I know he's looked after you since your parents died and now it's time for you to show him how strong you are and put Joshua away"

Anna closed her eyes for a second before sniffing back some tears and nodding in agreement to what Mickey had said

…………………………………………………………………………………………

Back at the station Smithy had started the interview with Joshua Malley

"Mr Malley do you know this woman?" Smithy asked showing him a photo of Anna Campbell

"Never seen her before in my life" he snarled

"Well that's funny because we've got you on CCTV pushing your way into Anna's house and this morning she was found nearly dead from a extremely brutal and vicious beating which left her with some extremely nasty injuries"

"No comment"

"We also know that you work as a porter at St. James' hospital where Anna Campbell works as a nurse yet you're saying to me that you've never seen her before in your life"

"No comment"

"Why did you do it Joshua?, why did you nearly beat a woman to death?"

"No comment"

"Then again it's not the first time you've beaten someone up like this is it?" Smithy said flicking through a file "Last year a Mr Marks had to have 20 stitches after you glassed him in the face. Mr Brown suffered two broken ribs after you punched him in an unprovoked attack and the list goes on and one but this attack on Anna is your worst yet. See now Anna is lying in hospital with a badly fractured arm and leg, her ribs are almost all broken and her collar bone is badly fractured as well, not to mention the very serious head injury and the numerous lacerations inflicted on her body" Smithy said trying to control the anger inside of him "So I ask again, why did you do it Joshua?"

"No comment" he sneered

Smithy angrily shoved the chair back and stormed out of the room yelling at one of the officers to shove him back in the cells

…………………………………………………………………………………………

A short time later he was back down at the hospital and was speaking to Mickey outside of Anna's room

"Where's Jake?" Smithy asked

"I got him to go home for a bit to rest up" Mickey said

"How's Anna?" Smithy said looking in the room where the doctor was talking to her

"Still suffering from her injuries, the doctor's patching her up now but she's still very weak"

Just then the Doctor came out of Anna's room to speak to the two officers

"How's she doing?"

"As I told you before, this was a brutal attack. We've set and plastered the broken bones but the fractures were very nasty. We've done fresh x-rays and found that her arm has been broken in five places and her leg in three. As for her internal injuries, we think we've stabilised her for the time being but I am worried about the broken ribs. And her head injury, we're still quite worried about, we've done scans and we're waiting for the results to come back"

"How bad do you think it is?" Mickey asked looking worried

"Anna is still very weak; if her breathing gets any worse we're going to have to intubate her"

"We need to get talk to her, is it ok if we go in?" and the Doctor nodded

"But keep her calm" he said as the officers walked in.

The room was silent apart from the steady beeping of machinery monitoring Anna. One of her arms was set in a cast that encased the whole of her arm and her leg was also plastered in a bulky cast. Her other arm was in a sling to support her collar bone and her head had some fresh bandages on but she looked paler now.

"How're you feeling Anna?"

"Sore" she said wheezing slightly

"Mickey said you've agreed to make a statement" and she nodded as they sat down "Well let's start from the beginning then. How do you know Joshua?"

"When our parents died, social services put us in foster care. We were sent to live with a couple who already had a son of their own"

"Was that Joshua?" and Anna nodded "How old were you all at the time"

"I was ten, Jake was sixteen and I think Joshua was eighteen. Joshua hated me and Jake from the moment we arrived there. He was always trying to get us into trouble and his parents believed him over us. They believed Joshua was this perfect little cherub but he was far from it" Anna said as her breathing got more and more shallow

"Do you know why he attacked you?"

"Revenge" Anna coughed

"What for?" Smithy asked softly

"When…h…him and Jake…..they….got into..t..trouble" Anna wheezed heavily

"What kind of trouble Anna?"

But at the point Anna passed out and the monitors started beeping wildly and Doctor's and nurses flooded the room. Mickey and Smithy waited outside hoping that Anna would be ok.

After a few minutes the Doctor came out to see them

"Is she ok?" Smithy asked

"We've had to intubate her because she was struggling to breathe on her own; we've sedated her to do this so I'm afraid you're not going to be able to talk to her. Her injuries are holding her back at the moment I'm sorry"

Mickey and Smithy nodded as the watched the machinery pump air into Anna's limp body and they wondered if they would ever find out the secret to Anna's world.


	7. Chapter 7

Half an hour later, Mickey and Smithy were staring at the white board in the briefing room looking at the notes. After Anna being incubated, her brother has understandably wanted to stay by her side, but he had agreed to come and talk to them later on. At least now, they knew how they knew Joshua. Hopefully Jake could tell them what had happened.

An hour later, they were still in the room going through all the evidence again when Tony came up.

" Sarge , Jake is here to talk to you. I put him in the soft interview room."

"Cheers Tony."

"Jake, how is she?" Smithy asked walking into the soft interview room with Mickey by his side.

"Anna's still incubated, but she is stable, the doctor's think that if she stay's like this for the next 24 hours, her body will be able to start healing."

"I am sorry to sound rude, but what do you want from me, it's just that Anna…" Jake said trailing off.

"Of course, we will be as quick as we can. We were talking to Anna just before she crashed and she was telling us about when you were kids, and how you were fostered to Joshua's family and he was a bully but got away with it. She started to tell us that he attacked her for revenge, as you both got into trouble, but then " Smithy didn't need to go on. They all knew what he was going to say.

Suddenly Jake sat down in the chair, and put his head into his hands.

"You said he was in custody? That he won't know what I told you guys."

"Your safe, your name will be kept out of it, although" Smithy didn't want to say this but he was bound by duty. "What you tell us, we won't put down your name, but he may guess the circumstances and such."

"If there was only us in the know, he will know that I told."

"Yep" Smithy agreed.

At this Jake got up and went to look out the window. For a whole minute he didn't speak, he just stood there looking out the window.

He then turned.

"If Anna can talk, then I can, since it was me and not her that got us into this mess."

"When I was 17, Joshua was 21 almost 22, he introduced me to drugs. I never really had a habit, I had them occasionally, but I did more of the buying and selling, or Joshua bought them, I sold them for him. I didn't really have much choice, He was the boss, and believe me you didn't say no. After a few months I got caught and the police, who had been watching us for a while pulled me in. I was only 17 and I cracked under the pressure, I told them everything about the operation. They went directly to pick up Joshua and arrested him. With the evidence that I gave, he was going to Jail.

His parent's got him bail and he went on the run. They caught him 6 months later and he swore that we had dobbed him in. We didn't, as we didn't even know where he was, because we had been moved to another family when the courts heard about what had happened, he went on Trial and he got put in jail for 4 years.

By then I had grown up and moved on with my life, Anna was only 14 but he didn't contact us or anything. That is why I think he is angry with us, but it has been so long, it doesn't make sense." Jake said sitting down in the chair nearest him.

"Thank you Jake, this has helped us a lot." Mickey said, whilst Smithy printed off the statement.

"Now if you sign here then I can take you back to the hospital to see Anna."

So with that Jake singed on the line and then got up to leave.

Smithy drove him to hospital in silence. As they pulled up to the car park Jake spoke up.

"Thank you, for trying your best."

This took Smithy by surprise, but he nodded.

"I just hope that this all works out, okay."

So with that they walked up to see Anna, she was still incubated, but she was stable. So Smithy left Jake there and went down to the pub to meet up with Mickey and some other's he didn't really feel like it, but he knew that he needed to relax and distress from the day.


	8. Chapter 8

Mickey and Smithy were sitting in the pub with some of the other officers, but the mood between the two men was very morbid.

Smithy stared into his pint and sighed, he kept playing over the events in his head but they didn't make any sense, he looked over at Mickey who was staring into space; lost in thought just like him

"It just doesn't make sense" Smithy said finally

"None of it does" Mickey said gloomily "But at least we have Jake's statement"

"That alone won't stand up in court, we need concrete evidence and even if we do get to court we're going to need Anna to be a witness and we don't even know if she's going to be well enough, she's not even conscious at the moment"

"Or even if she'll actually make a statement, the poor girl is terrified; she was beaten to with an inch of her life. Her recovery is going to be slow, the fractures and the internal injuries, that head wound and not to mention all the psychological damage she's going to have" Mickey said sighing loudly

"What I don't understand is, why Joshua came after Anna after all these years and what went on in her house to make him beat her that badly?" Smithy said biting his lip in thought

"We need to go back to the beginning and found out more about Anna and dig into the past a bit more, there must be something we're missing" and Smithy nodded in agreement

…………………………………………………………………………………………

The next morning Mickey and Smithy were at the station early going through all that they had on Anna so far.

"So what do we know for sure?" Mickey said scrawling on the white board

"Anna Campbell, daughter of Peter and Mary Campbell who died in a head on collision with another vehicle 12 years ago" Smithy said glancing down at the file "Both Jake and Anna were taken into care since there were no other relatives" "And we know that they were looked after by the Malley family who had a son of their own, Joshua"

"According to Jake, the reason Joshua seems to have a vendetta against the two of them is to do with the drug dealing charge"

"So after that where did Jake and Anna go?" Mickey asked

"They were sent to live with a couple just outside of London and they both stayed with them until they were old enough to leave home. Anna went on to study nursing and qualified just last year, she's been working at that hospital since then" Smithy reeled off

"And we know Joshua worked there too, do you think they had any contact?" Mickey said reading over the information he had just written

"I'm not sure, it just seems odd Joshua has taken all this time to seek his revenge, Anna really seems to be the only one who knows what's going on here and she can't tell us yet"

The two officers were deciding what there next move would be when the phone rang, Smithy answered it and mumbled short responses into the receiver. When he finished the call he turned back to Mickey with a small smile on his face

"They've taken Anna of the ventilator, she's recovering well and her condition has stabilised enough for us to talk to her"

Mickey grabbed his coat and hurried off to the hospital with Smithy following.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

They entered Anna's room and were relieved to see her sitting up in bed looking a lot better than she had previously done. The two officers smiled and sat down beside the bed

"Jake told me what happened" she said quietly looking at her brother who was sitting next to her, holding her hand as a means of comfort "Now it's my turn"

"Anna, we can do this whenever you're ready" Mickey said gently

"No, I need to do this, I have to face my demons sometime might as well be now" she said with a hint of bitterness

"Can you take me through what happened the night you were attacked?"

"The memories are still hazy" she said and Smithy still noticed she had the compression bandage round her head

"The Doctor said you might have some temporary amnesia but if you can try…" and Anna nodded

"It was like I said before; I'd just broken up with my boyfriend and I wanted a night out, I can remember getting home"

"Anything else apart from that?"

Anna closed her eyes in thought "Only sort of flashes, nothing that makes much sense…the sound of the doorbell ringing….and then just pain after that, the next thing I remember was waking up in hospital"

"Did you get a look at your attacker?" Smithy asked

"It was dark…." Anna said quickly

"Please try….any detail at all however small"

She scrunched up her face in thought and was silent for a few moments, then her face dropped and a look over pure fear was spread across her features "Oh God…." She whimpered

"Anna?" Jake said looking concerned

"I remember his voice…It was Joshua" she said, her eyes wide with fear

"What did he say?" Mickey said

"He said…he said….that he had come to finish what he started, that he was going to make me pay, I'd had enough warnings and now it was too late" Anna said with panic in her voice

"Anna" Smithy said gently "I promise you're safe, Joshua cannot get you, we have officers on guard outside your room and hospital staff have been noted about him" Anna nodded

"Why would he say that to you, had you had any contact recently?"

Anna bit her lip and nodded slowly "A couple of weeks ago when I was on shift here at the hospital, I bumped into one of the porters and then I found…I found…." Anna stuttered as the memories came back to her "It was Joshua…"

"Why didn't you tell me?" Jake said

"I thought I could handle it" she said with strong emotion in her voice "He never said anything for me to start with…he just stood there watching me, but he always seemed to be there wherever I turned"

"He was probably trying to intimidate you" Mickey said softly

"I just ignored him, then one time he cornered me in the corridor, he said he was going to make me pay for what I had done" Anna said lying back on the pillow looking exhausted

"We can stop if you're getting too tired" Smithy said gently but Anna shook her head "Anna you're still very weak, you need to take it easy" Mickey said

"I need to put an end to this, if I don't tell you what really went on then he will go free and then he will come after me and…." Anna swallowed hard "I'm ok to go on" she said determinedly though the officers could see the tiredness creep into her face

"If you're sure…" and she nodded

"Jake…" she said suddenly "Would you be able to get me a drink?" and Jake looked up at her surprised

"I don't want to leave you"

She smiled "I'll be fine….please?"

Jake nodded and stood up, Mickey followed him to keep him company and then it was just Anna and Smithy in the room

"I'm sorry, I couldn't let Jake hear this; it would tear him apart" Anna said looking at Smithy

"I understand"

……………………………………………………………………………………….......

Mickey and Jake walked down the hospital corridor in order to give Anna and Smithy some time alone to talk

"She's a brave girl your sister" Mickey said with a small smile

"She's my little sister but she's always looked out for the both of us" Jake said sitting down on one of the chairs

"Did the Doctor say when he was going to discharge her?" Mickey said sitting down next to him

"Within the next couple of days, along as she her condition keeps improving"

"At least that's something"

"I'm going to stay with her for a bit, just to help her out" Jake said protectively "What happens after Anna gives her statement?"

"Well with both of your statements and any forensic evidence we got from her flat then we can hopefully get a confession out of Joshua and then we can charge him"

"Will it go to court?" and Mickey nodded "Will we have to give evidence?"

"You might have to and Anna defiantly will"

"I hope they lock him up and throw away they key" Jake said bitterly

"You need to stay strong for Anna" Mickey said putting a supporting hand on Jake's shoulder who nodded sadly

…………………………………………………………………………………………

"Why did he want to hurt you?" Smithy said back in Anna's hospital room

"I was the one who tipped off the police" Anna said bursting into tears "This is all my fault"

"Anna, please none of this is your fault, you did not deserve to nearly be beaten to death"

She sniffed and looked at Smithy sadly "He said he was going to hurt Jake unless I gave him money. He said he'd found out it was me who tipped off the police"

"Did you give him money?"

"I had to, but then he kept putting up the prices but I couldn't afford it, not on my nursing salary"

"And then what happened?"

"Well I got that text but he said nothing to me on the day of the attack. It's a bit blurry after that but I can remember coming out of the club and going back home"

"Anything after that?"

"Only flashes like I said before and then pain and then blackness"

"That would have been when he knocked you out" and Anna nodded "Can you remember anything more specific?"

"Not really, we might have had an argument, maybe my neighbour heard it?" Anna said thoughtfully and Smithy nodded

"We'll check that lead out" Smithy looked at Anna and saw the exhaustion on her face "I'll come back in a bit but you should get some rest"

Anna nodded, her eyes flickering shut with the tiredness she was feeling "Thank you" she mumbled and Smithy smiled

Things seemed to be on the up for Anna finally, but Smithy wondered how long it would really last with twists and turns at every corner in the world of Anna Campbell.


	9. Chapter 9

Smithy stood looking at Anna resting whilst thinking. A moment later Mickey and Jake came back.

"She's just having a rest. But we have everything we need, so we should leave you guys alone, but thank you." Smithy told Jake.

As Smithy and Mickey were driving back to Sun Hill, he relayed what Anna had said.

"So he was taking money from her" Mickey summed up.

Once they were back at the station they ran a few financial tests and found that the account Anna had been putting the money into was under a Jo Malla.

"So you reckon that's a false name or what." Smithy said.

"Oh I think that you could easily extend that to Joshua Malloy." At this Grace came up.

"Sarge, I was talking to my mate in the banking section and he traced the account to Joshua Malloy. He was using the false name, but it was definitely him who set up the account and who uses it. I received some CCTV shots of him at the bank at the time that the account was set up which confirms it."

"Thank you Grace. Let's go re arrest him."

So half an hour later Mickey, Smithy, Joshua and his Lawyer were in an interview room.

"Joshua Malloy I am arresting you for the serious assault of Anna Campbell."

At this he was cut off by Joshua's lawyer.

"Excuse me, you have already arrested my client for this."

"That was on suspicion of assault this time I am arresting your client for assault I am also arresting you for blackmail, you do not have to say anything but it may harm your defence if you do not mention something which you later rely on in court, anything you do say may be given in evidence do you understand."

"But, what, how," Joshua spluttered.

"Do you understand?." Smithy questioned.

"I understand." Joshua said after receiving a nod from his lawyer.

"I am now showing the suspect exhibit X.67 a signed statement from Anna Campbell." At this Mickey read it out.

"Do you still claim that you did not attack Miss Campbell that night."

"Yes"

"Do you have an alibi?." Mickey continued

"I do in fact."

"Oh and you didn't mention to say this before."

"Sorry it slipped my mind."

"Does your Alibi have a name?" Smithy asked jumping in.

"Alison Ritchie, my girlfriend, we were together that night in bed. I am sure that she will verify that." Joshua smirked.

"Okay thank you." Smithy said writing the name down.

"I am now showing Mr Malloy exhibit X.68 and X.69."

"Why would someone like you who claims to be innocent create a bank account using a false name?"

"I never."

"We have the evidence" Mickey said showing Joshua the forms and the CCTC images.

"Do you know how hard it is to get credit, once you have been in Jail?" Joshua said quietly seeing the evidence in front of him.

"Then why do you have these large lump sums being put into your account, which interestingly correlate to the amount of money and the dates that the same amount of money is removed from Anna Campbell's account."

"I could have been working" Joshua replied. Looking down in his lap he knew that he had been cornered for that crime.

"You still don't have me on the assault though."

"Oh trust me, were going to. Interview terminated 13.53" Smithy said standing up and walking out the door.

A few minutes later both Mickey and Smithy were sitting at a computer.

"Alison Ritchie 28, previous for drugs and a warning for assault. Sounds like a lovely person." Mickey commented. Just as they were about to head out to her address Jack Meadow's came in.

"Sorry guy's but I need to borrow Mickey for a little while."

At this both guys separated.

As Smithy walked down the hallway he saw P.C Noble

"P.C Noble"

"Yes Sarge"

"Are you doing anything at the moment."

"Just finishing my refs sarge."

"Good you can accompany me then."

A few minutes later in the car, Diane had been brought up to speed on where and what they were doing.

After they arrived at the block of flats and knocked on the door, a women answered.

"You wouldn't happen to be Alison Ritchie would you?" Smithy questioned, knowing from the pictures that she was.

"What's it to you."

"Are you?"

"Yes, why?"

"Were just wondering if you know a Joshua Malloy." Smithy asked.

"Yeah, he's my ex."

"How long have you been separated for Miss Ritchie."

"Why do you want to know?"

"Were you with him In the early hours on the morning of the 28th of June."

"28th of June, you sure about that date." Alison queried.

"Yes why? Is there something you would like to tell us."

"I wasn't here; I was up in Manchester with a girlfriend for another girlfriend's wedding from the 26th to the 30th. I stayed at the Royal Hotel for that time. Check with them if you want."

"Your sure about these dates Alison."

"Yes, I am very sure, why."

"Because we have just arrested Joshua for assault."


	10. Chapter 10

Alison led Diane and Smithy into the living room so they could talk further. She sat down opposite the two officers looking shaken.

"What do you mean you've arrested him" she snapped, the initial shock being replaced by anger

"We have sufficient evidence to believe that Joshua was responsible for the attack of a young woman that left her hospitalised"

"Well you must be mistaken" Alison sneered "Just like the police always are"

"Please try and take this seriously Miss Ritchie" Smithy said trying to control his anger "A woman was very nearly beaten to death because of your boyfriend"

"Who?" Alison said suddenly looking very interested

"I'm not at liberty to divulge that information"

Anna just clicked her tongue in annoyance and stood up "Well I'm not going to answer any more questions then"

"Does the name Anna Campbell mean anything to you?" Diane said trying to get the woman to give them any information that could help them bring justice to Anna and Jake

Alison turned round with an angry snarl "That little bitch" she snapped "Is she the one who got attacked?" and Diane nodded "Good then she got what she deserved"

"Do you mean to say that you believe an innocent woman deserved to nearly get killed?" Smithy said with a look of disgust on his face

"This is all her fault" Alison turned away angrily from them "He promised me…" she muttered darkly

"What do you mean?" Diane said

"Like I'm going to tell you" she spat

"Alison please" Diane said gently "Anna has been badly hurt and it's going to take her a while to get back to good health again, do you not think she deserves some justice?"

"She ruined all that I and Josh had, he was obsessed with her he, all he spoke about was how he was going to make Anna pay" Alison sighed as she realised she said more than she meant to give away

"Go on…" Smithy said looking suddenly intrigued

"He was determined to hurt Anna for putting him in prison….he despised her, Josh kept on saying that she'd ruined his life because she couldn't keep her mouth shut and the he said he was going to make sure she never would again"

"And what did you say to all of this?"

"I hated her for it, she was the only thing no his mind when it should have been me!" Alison yelled

"Were you involved in Anna's attack?" Diane said looking worried but Alison stayed silent knowing she had already said too much

Smithy said, this case just kept getting deeper and more violent "Alison Ritchie I am arresting you on suspicion of assisting an assault, you do not have to say anything but it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned something you later rely on in court. Anything you do say will be given in evidence" he reeled off as Alison was led away in handcuffs

…………………………………………………………………………………………

A short while later the two officers had led Alison into the interview room determined to find out the truth

"Alison, were you involved in the attack of Anna Campbell?" Smithy said bluntly but Alison just stayed silent

"If you were we're going to be able to find your DNA from the samples we took at Anna's house. If you tell us the truth now, you're only going to be helping yourself, so now we're clear on that, who attacked Anna?" Diane said hoping to get somewhere with the interview

Alison sighed "Josh did…."

"Did you see him?" Smithy asked

"I saw him hit Anna with something and she fell to the floor and then he started kicking her in the head. He then got this baseball bat and started beating her with it"

"Why were you there?"

"No comment" Alison said sharply, determined to protect herself

The interview continued with the officers getting no further with Alison. They decided to call for a break in order to see of they could shed any light on the evidence they had already gathered. As they sifted through the statements and evidence Eddie, Sun Hill's resident CSE burst into the room waving a piece of paper wildly

"I got the results back from the samples we took….."

"And?" Smithy said standing up looking interested

"What happened to Anna seems a lot less simple than we first thought it to be…."


	11. Chapter 11

"Go on Eddie" Smithy said breath baited.  
"Well we know that she was attacked pretty badly".

"Yes we know that Eddie" Smithy said exasperated.

"These results from the house show that Joshua and a lady called Alison were there."

"We know that Eddy, please tell me you have something else"

Eddy nodded.

"The samples show that Joshua had been in some of the other rooms, from the samples taken up to 48 hours earlier, so he had been there before the attack. Alison's traces were also found. So they had either both come to the house earlier or they went around the house after they had attacked Anna."

"Nothing was touched though." Diane said.

"I am not a seer, I can't tell you what they did, but they were in the different rooms."

As if Eddy had completely forgotten he spoke up again.

"Oh and I found another set of prints, belonging to an Aaron Shamble, thought you might like to know."

"What" Diane and Smithy said at the same time.

"Yep, they looked a bit older, they were only partially there, but we had him in the system so it came up."

"Right, Diane get onto this guy and find out why he was there."

Half an hour later Diane was pulling up to Mr Shamble's house.

Only a few seconds after knocking on the door Aaron came to the door.

"Can I help you officer?"

"Are you Aaron Shamble?" Diane questioned.

"Yes"

"Would you mind if I asked you a few questions?"

"No I don't mind, what's this about."

"What do you do for a living Mr Shamble"

"Come in do you want a coffee? I am a plumber by the way."

"Diane followed Aaron in agreeing to a cup of coffee.

"Have you been to 22 Pana way before"

"hmmm that sounds familiar" Aaron said handing a mug over to Diane.

"Just give a sec and I will check" At this he went and grabbed a little notebook he flipped a few pages and then spoke up."

"Yep 22 Pana way, a young lady needed me to fix her shower head and her kitchen tap's for her. Now I remember nice girl she was, if only I was a few years younger." Aaron smiled.

"Do you have a receipt at all"

"Yep I do" Aaron said moving over to a desk and opening a draw.

"Here you are", he said after a few seconds of searching.

Diane looked at the date, the day before the attack.

"How did you get into the house?"

"The lady had taken the morning off work. It was first thing in the morning."

Did you see anything suspicious whilst you were there?"

"No, nothing out of the ordinary, although I did think it was strange that such a lovely young lady was single."

"So you talked with her"

"Mostly the pleasantries"

"Right" At this Diane opened her pocket.

"Have you seen either of these people" Diane asked handing him a photo of both Joshua and Alice.  
Aaron looked at the pages. After a minute he was still staring at them.

"Aaron?"

"Um I am trying to think. Wait a sec, yeah I am sure now, I saw that guy and the girl, I was driving away and they were coming the other way in a car." Don't ask me why I remember them I just do."

"Are you sure, what time was this?"

"mmm I got there about 8.30 and it must have been 10 when I left as the girl left at the same time as me, as she was going to work. I remember her saying that she needed to be at work at 10.30 and that she always took half an hour to get there."

"Right thank you Aaron, you have been a big help."

With this Diane went back to the station but couldn't find Smithy anywhere and he wasn't picking up his phone, so she left a message on his desk and went to watch some CCTV. 15 minutes later Smithy walked in.

"What's up Diane"

"This is what's up Sarge." Diane said pointing to the CCTV where there was a still of Joshua and Alice getting out of their car at 10.06 just outside Anna's house.

"What the hell are they doing there at that time."

"I am not sure sarge, but I think it is time we got to the truth on this case."

A few minutes later they had Alice back in the interview room as they believed that they could get more out of her. Smithy started the questions fast and hard.

"Okay Alison, we know that you were with Joshua when he attacked Anna because we have scientific evidence. We also have evidence that you were at her house the day before at approximately 10.06am. Now why were you there, tell me the truth and I will let the judge know you helped." Smithy said in a no nonsense attitude.

They were not sure why, but Alison must have been a bit scared of his tone as she spoke up.

"Okay I will tell you. I was there. Well you see Joshua had heard the previous day that Anna was taking the morning off so wanted to go and attack her then. But by the time we arrived she had already gone out. We waited for a bit, we even went into the house but she wasn't there. So we left, but we came back the next night."

"Are you really telling us the truth Alison, your not just spinning us some lies are you?"

"No"

"Alison if you are, I will throw away the key."

"I am telling you the truth."

"Interview terminated 11.24" Smithy said getting up and walking out the door.

45 minutes later they came out of the other interview room smiling.

After telling Joshua the facts and showing him the irrefutable evidence. He had finally realized that they had gotten him and on advice from his lawyer that he would get an easier sentence if he pleaded guilty he had pleaded guilty and admitted the attack.


	12. Chapter 12

3 weeks later

Smithy and Mickey pulled up outside of the court and hurriedly made their way inside. Today was the day of the trial and hopefully the day Anna Campbell would finally see some justice. They entered the foyer in an apprehensive state both of them hoping for Joshua to be put away for a long time. They were met on the foyer of the court house by a barrister who greeted them warmly

"I'm William Foster and I'll be the prosecution barrister for this case"

"I'm Sergeant Smithy and this is DC Webb" the men all shook hands

"Excellent" William said as he led them up the stairs "Now we have a strong case against Mr Malley and it's almost certain he will get a prison sentence but how long all depends on the depth of the witness statements"

"When we took Anna's statement she was still suffering the effects of the blow to the head she received, she really couldn't remember all that much" Smithy said looking concerned

"Don't worry the judge and jury have all been informed of Miss Campbell's current state of health and this will be taken into consideration" William assured the officers

He led Smithy towards the witness holding area so he could sit with Anna until she was called. William had thought this would relax Anna since Smithy had been the one most involved in the case from the start. As Smithy entered the room he saw Anna sitting there looking nervous. But as soon as she saw him her face broke into a smile.

"Hey" she said in cheerful voice

"Hi Anna, how're you feeling?" Smithy asked sitting down on the chair next to her

"Better thanks" she said "The Doctor said my collar bone healed up nicely so now all I've got to do is wait until the rest heals"

Smithy looked at Anna and still felt a pang of sympathy for her although the cuts and bruises were healing the rest of her still looked pretty battered. Under her black trousers Smithy could see the outline of the cast that encased her leg. Her arm had been re-plastered into a bulky cast which was strapped up in a sling from shoulder to her knuckles and Smithy was concerned about this.

"It could have been worse" Anna reassured him and Smithy raised an eyebrow

"Anna he broke your leg in three places and your arm in five…"

"Well ok fair point but if you hadn't found me in time…" her sentence trailed off and Smithy quickly changed the subject

"How long are you in plaster for then?"

"My leg about 8 weeks and my arm about 12 but the doctor put me in a walking cast which means I'm not as dependent on those things" she nodded to a pair of crutches propped up against a chair near her

"You've been so brave Anna" Smithy said after a moments silence between the pair

"I guess it all comes down to this" she sighed

"Are you ready?"

"As I'll ever be but I have to face him one day, I need some closure on this" and Smithy nodded

At that point a steward came in and told them that Anna would be called to the stand now. Smithy helped her into her crutches and the pair of them slowly made their way to the court room. Smithy then left Anna to go and take his place inside whilst Anna was led through a different door.

As she was taken in she could hear the murmurs of the jury as they saw the extent of her injuries. She swore the oath and then prepared to give her witness account.

"The court have seen the evidence and heard from one witness but now I have called Anna Campbell to the stand to give her eye witness account" William addressed to the court "Anna would you please tell the court of what you remember of the night of the attack"

Anna looked around the court trying to calm herself before she spoke, she could see Joshua standing there with a smirk on his face and that made her feel sick. But out of the corner of her eye she could see Smithy giving her an encouraging smile. She summoned up all the courage she had, took a deep breath and then began"

"I was coming home from a night out; I had just broken up with my boyfriend and just needed some time to relax. I got inside my house and a couple of minutes later the doorbell rang. I answered it and then someone pushed their way into my house"

"And who was this person?" William asked

"Joshua Malley" Anna said, her voice quivering with emotion

"And you are sure of this?"

"Yes I remember his voice. He told me that he way going to make me pay"

There were further murmurings from the jury but Anna continued bravely

"After that I remember pain and not a lot else, I could feel him beating me with something. I remember feeling the bones crack in my leg as I feel. I remember someone repeatedly kicking me and going for my arm. Then I felt a blow to my head, after that I heard the attacker leave. I was drifting in and out of consciousness but I tried to grab my phone and call for help but the pain and blood loss was too much" Anna said her voice breaking with emotion as she remembered the events "The next thing I remember was waking up in hospital and the Doctor telling me to relax" Anna finished and took a deep breath trying to control her emotions

"Thank you Miss Campbell" William said nodding his head with gratitude "I would like to draw the courts attention to a number of issues. Firstly the depth of detail that the witness can go into. No doubt you have been informed of the head injury she received, this meant that she had to be put in an induced coma for several hours and the blow meant that she suffered temporary amnesia on events. From doctors reports there is further evidence of the brutality of the attack. Whilst being treated Miss Campbell had to be put in an ventilator because of her increasingly unstable condition, the internal injuries were severe with bruising to at least 3 major organs. As you can also see there were fractures to her collar bone, leg and arm. With this statements from the doctor, two witness accounts and the police accounts there is overwhelming evidence that Mr Malley brutally attacked Miss Campbell over an issue that occurred in their childhood without shoeing any remorse"

The judge nodded "Court is adjourned whilst the jury make their decision"

…………………………………………………………………………………………

Smithy and Mickey met up with Anna and Jake in the foyer. Jake was comforting Anna who looked close to tears

"I'm sorry you had to go through that again Anna" Mickey said gently

"It's fine" she said sniffing back tears "I know it was necessary"

"We have a strong case; he's going to go down for quite some time and Alison too"

Anna nodded "Thank you for all your help" she smiled at Mickey and Smithy

Just then William rushed towards them with a smile on his face "We've been clled back in"

"That was quick" Smithy said looking shocked

"Well apparently it was a clear verdict" William said leading them back to the court room

…………………………………………………………………………………………

"Mr Malley" the judge began "We have taken into account your guilty plea but yet we have to consider the brutality of the attack, what have the jury decided?"

One member stood up "We have found Joshua Malley guilty"

"Joshua Malley I hereby sentence you to 5 years imprisonment for GBH which intent to cause serious harm"

Smithy looked across at the expression on Anna and Jake's face and he knew he would never forget the look of relief on their faces as they knew that their terror was finally over.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

1 year later

Smithy was at the hospital waiting to take a statement from another resident of Canley when he looked up and saw something that made him smile.

There was Anna back at work doing what she loved best; she was back working as a nurse. She looked up from the patient's notes she was holding and smiled when she saw Smithy

"Back at work then?" he grinned

"The smell of sick never smelt so good" she laughed

"I'm happy for you"

"Thank you for all you did Smithy, you and the rest of your officers. Jake and I are eternally grateful"

Smithy nodded "Just promise me one thing?"

"What's that?"

"That you and Jake will talk to each other, no more secrets"

"No more secrets" she agreed

And from that moment on Smithy knew that he had played a small part in re-building the life of one person who tried to hide so much from the world and he couldn't be happier for Jake or Anna.


End file.
